The present invention relates to a firefighting apparatus, such as a fire truck, a trailer or other vehicles, and more particularly to a firefighting apparatus with an integrated grab handle and signal/warning light.
Fire trucks and rescue vehicles typically include multiple signal and/or warning lights. These lights are available in a variety of styles and designs unique to the location of the lights on the truck and the purpose of the lights. Depending on local jurisdictional rules, fire trucks often have signal and/or warning lights on many different locations of the truck, inside and out. Popular types of lights used on fire trucks include strobe lights, surface mount lights, light bars and grille lights. The lights are available in many different warning light colors, the most popular colors being red and white, and in some jurisdictions, blue and yellow. Many higher end lights come preprogrammed to emit a multitude of flash patterns.
An issue with almost all conventional fire truck lights is that they require holes be drilled, punched or formed through panels of the body, cab and/or frame of the truck. The lights are then mounted in the holes, or the lights include wiring that extends through the holes. These light holes are in addition to the multiple other holes typically found on a fire truck to accommodate other accessories such as latches, steps and the like. The more holes there are in the truck, the more likely it is that water, chemicals and other debris can inadvertently enter the truck over time, particularly if seals around the holes degrade. In turn, this leakage, particularly in climates where salt is used on roads during winter, can lead to rust, which can prematurely compromise a fire truck's components.
Signal and warning lights on fire trucks and rescue vehicles are helpful and even required in many applications. The additional holes that are used to mount the lights, however, are undesirable. Accordingly, there remains room for improvement in the mounting of lights to fire trucks while reducing the overall number of holes in them, and the overall number of separate accessories mounted on the trucks.